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'Deac' looks at Winooski's past, future

Katherine "Deac" Decarreau, who resigns as Winooski's city manager at the end of July, discusses her 7-year tenure Friday at Scout and Company Victory Circle.(Photo: JOEL BANNER BAIRD/FREE PRESS)Buy Photo

Another Winooski city manager will take her place after she steps down in August, for starters.

“New things don’t happen if you don’t create a vacuum,” she said, looking up from a coffee refill.

Her replacement has not yet been named. But her predictions for the city gained momentum over the course of an hour-long interview at Scout & Company Victory Circle, at the northern edge of Winooski's signature traffic circle.

For instance: The municipality will certainly find surer footing as it grows, Decarreau said. Cultural diversity will continue to enrich neighborhoods and businesses; young talent will continue to be attracted to Winooski’s emphatically urban mix.

But what will the city look like?

“That discussion will not be dominated by people who grew up here,” she said. Long-time residents like herself will roll with it or move on, “and there are very few of us left here.”

Decarreau, who managed the city for seven years and whose family has lived here for several generations, will stay.

She’s already scoping out bicycle routes to her new job in Essex Junction, where she’ll be executive director of finance and operations at the Chittenden Central Supervisory Union.

Winooski City Council is expected to appoint an interim city manager while the search for a full-time replacement is underway, said Winooski Mayor Seth Leonard on Tuesday.

The process could take up to a year, he added.

"Deac came in at a very difficult time for the city, and she built a great foundation to work from," Leonard said.

As a resident (and confirmed walker and bicyclist), Decarreau will remain intimately acquainted with the bumps in Winooski’s streets and sidewalks. She said she will also stay tuned into challenges in funding water treatment and wastewater, and in securing budget revenues.

A fundamental challenge remains, Decarreau said: “We have one, landlocked square mile here. How do you expand the grand list? The only way you can do it is by going up.”

The groundwork has been laid, she said. Winooski, after much work, has adopted of a new municipal plan that envisions community-friendly vertical growth.

Blessedly, that theory will be put to the bricks-and-mortar test under the guidance of her successor, Decarreau said.

“I find it exhausting, negotiating with developers,” she added. “As we go forward, the city needs to have an honest conversation about what our blind spots are, particularly about economic development.

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Katherine "Deac" Decarreau, who resigns as Winooski's city manager at the end of July, discusses her 7-year tenure Friday at Scout and Company Victory Circle.(Photo: JOEL BANNER BAIRD/FREE PRESS)

And what strengths have served her well in the city’s 21st century resurgence?

“I love puzzles,” she said.

Decarreau also invoked a twist on the mythical landscape of Sisyphus, who was doomed to roll a monstrous stone uphill, only to have it repeatedly come crashing down.

“I’ve been good at rolling the rock up to the very top of the hill,” she said. “I’m not as good at keeping up with the rock as it’s rolling down the other side.”

Will she remain a mere spectator?

“I’ll look for ways to volunteer, but not in anything that involves policy or decision-making at the municipal level,” Decarreau said. “That’s a shadow I can’t cast.

“I’m just a snot-nose kid from Winooski,” she added.

This story first appeared online Tuesday, June 28, 2016. Contact Joel Banner Baird at 802-660-1843 or joelbaird@freepressmedia.com.

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